Sir David Attenborough has warned that humanity is doing its "damnedest" to stop the world recovering from the effects of climate change.
People "can't afford to be fatigued" about the threat of global warming, the 89-year-old broadcaster said, and the situation can, at best, get "less worse".
His comments come shortly after world leaders agreed a deal to cut global greenhouse emissions following climate talks in Paris.
The lifelong naturalist had been very vocal in the build-up to the summit, saying the world faced a "hideous problem".
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph magazine, Sir David said improvement can only be achieved through "very, very" hard work.
Referring to the problems facing the environment, he said: "Wouldn't it be nice if you didn't have to worry about it? But you can't afford to be fatigued.
"If we're lucky and we work very, very hard, they're going to get less worse."
Sir David, while confident that nature has the ability to recover, added: "We're doing our damnedest to prevent that now."
His latest documentary series, The Great Barrier Reef, will start on BBC One on December 30.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel